Elgin Community College to get state support for MAP grants

Rafael Guerrero / The Courier-News

Because of the new Illinois state budget including funding for the MAP grants awarded to low-income students, Elgin Community College will no longer have to support the grants using cash reserves, as it did last school year.

Because of the new Illinois state budget including funding for the MAP grants awarded to low-income students, Elgin Community College will no longer have to support the grants using cash reserves, as it did last school year. (Rafael Guerrero / The Courier-News)

With a new state budget, Elgin Community College no longer has to use its cash reserves to pay for unfunded tuition grants for low-income students.

Last school year, almost 900 ECC students' Monetary Award Program grants were at risk because the state could not pay for them, a result of the two-year budget impasse. The college instead funded them using $807,000 in cash reserves.

"There were many, many schools that could not do that," said Lynne Baker, the communications director of the Illinois Student Assistance Commission. "A lot of community colleges, private nonprofits, were not able to credit student accounts for grants."

The fate of these grants turned when the General Assembly found a way to override Gov. Bruce Rauner's veto of new spending and budget adoption bills, thus ensuring a budget.

In the new state budget, MAP grants are fully funded, granting the Illinois Student Assistance Commission authority to continue its grant program.

"Schools are wanting their funds as quickly as possible, but they're just starting (the disbursement process) right now," said Kim Wagner, ECC's managing director of student financial services.

A MAP grant can be used only for tuition and fees, and the maximum amount that can be awarded is $4,720, according to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission.

Wagner said it remains uncertain when the state will begin paying schools, such as Elgin Community College, its share of MAP dollars.

"We'll be waiting patiently," she said.

Baker said the commission has submitted the claims for the first term of the 2016-17 school year to State Comptroller Susana Mendoza's office. The new budget retroactively pays for MAP grants from the previous year, which some schools credited, paid for through their reserves or didn't pay.

Baker said the hope is the 2016-17 grants get paid quickly, and that the 2017-18 payments soon follow. No timetable has been set, she said.

When asked if students and institutions should be worried when grant dollars trickle down to the schools, Baker said, "If you are a student who had an estimated MAP award on your financial aid letter for the 2017-18 year, (the grant) will be there for you."

"We're really happy to be able to say that" for the first time in two years," Baker said.

Under the new budget, Illinois will provide $365 million for MAP grants issued in the 2016-17 school year. For the upcoming school year, the MAP budget increases to $401 million.

At Elgin Community College, Wagner said it's anticipated the number of MAP students to be somewhere between 850 and 900 students, in line with last school year's 898. In the 2015-16 school year, 866 students received MAP dollars, or about $766,000, Wagner said.